The present invention is generally directed to a disposable insulator for providing thermal insulation from the contents of a container, such as a cup.
Disposable coffee cup sleeves presently available are unable to sufficiently insulate the heat dissipated from a hot liquid, such as hot coffee or hot tea, in the cup because the cup sleeves are either too thin or made of a material that is insufficient to provide thermal insulation from the contents of the cup.
Coffee mugs, travel mugs, and disposable cups are used when carrying a beverage from one place to another. The overall build and material of the mugs enable a user to carry both cold and hot beverages. Similarly, the disposable cups can also be used to carry cold beverages. While the non-disposable coffee cups may have a robust construction and a lower heat transfer index, the disposable coffee cups typically have thin walls and a higher heat transfer index. As such, the build and material of the existing disposable cups require the user to take additional measures to protect the hands when carrying hot beverages. For example, the user may use multiple disposable cup sleeves if the beverage is very hot, which is both wasteful and expensive. Even though the existing cup sleeves are efficient when holding mildly warm beverages, the cup sleeves might not be as effective when holding extremely hot beverages, such as hot coffee or hot tea, because of the minimal thickness or material of the cup sleeves.
The insufficient protection to the hands of the user is the most common disadvantage with the existing cup sleeves. More specifically, the minimal thickness in existing cup sleeves result in the heat transferring from the beverage to the exterior surface of the cup, and then towards the hand of the user. In order to address this issue, users generally use multiple cup sleeves to protect the fingers holding the cup, which is both wasteful and expensive. Even though the use of multiple sleeves can be effective to some extent, the overall bulky structure resulting from multiple sleeves can be a burden when carrying a hot beverage in the disposable cup. The increased circumference due to the use of multiple sleeves also limits the use of cup holders which are designed according to pre-determined values.
An objective of the present invention is to address the aforementioned issues. The present invention eliminates the need to have multiple sleeves to protect the hand of the user against the hot beverage. Moreover, the present invention provides more insulation when holding the cup carrying the hot beverage so that the user can handle the disposable cup. Therefore, by utilizing the present invention, the user can carry the hot beverage as preferred and also protect the hand against the heat from the hot beverage.